A woman has filed a rape case against a BJP leader Ravindra Bawanthade in Maharashtra. A video of the BJP leader allegedly kissing the woman has gone viral on social media.

Woman in her complaint said that the BJP leader had promised her a job and assured to marry her too. (Representational image)

A woman has filed a rape case against a BJP leader Ravindra Bawanthade in Maharashtra. Also, a video allegedly showing the BJP leader kissing the woman has gone viral on social media, ABP News reported. However, the state police is yet to trace Ravindra Bawanthade who is absconding after the woman filed a rape case against him. According to an ABP news report, the CCTV visuals going viral allegedly show Bawanthade kissing the woman in a moving bus. The bus was plying from Nagpur to Chandrapur area of Gadchiroli district. ABP news report says that the woman in her complaint said that the BJP leader had promised her a job and assured to marry her too. BJP in alliance with Shiv Sena, is in power in Maharashtra.

Earlier, in the first quarter of this year, it was reported that Maharashtra witnessed a significant rise in crimes against women and children in the last two years. The Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2015-16, tabled in the state legislature, said 3,063 rapes were registered in 2013, 3,438 in 2014 and 4,176 in 2015. “Molestation cases have gone up to 11,696 in 2015 from 8,132 in 2013 and 10,001 cases in 2014,” it said.

The number of child rape cases was 1,546 in 2013, 1,714 in 2014 and 1,988 in 2015 while the number of kidnapping and abduction cases during the corresponding period were 1,698, 2,616 and 6,576, respectively, the survey said.”In 2011, there were 4.8 lakh females and 6.1 lakh males in the state who got married below the legal age as against in 2001 when the numbers stood at two lakh females and 2.9 lakh males,” it said.